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Avengers star Scarlett Johansson is warning of another “Princess Diana Tragedy” after she was overpowered by paparazzi after leaving the
Jimmy Kimmel Show.
According to
Fox News, the actress’s security team drove Johansson to the LAPD Hollywood station after she was bombarded by a slew of paparazzi outside the El Capitan Theater.
Although Johansson suffered no injuries from the harrowing ordeal, she was reportedly “spooked” and issued a statement condemning the “dangerous lengths” paparazzi go to “stalk and harass the people they are photographing.”
In a statement obtained by
ET, Johansson said of the incident, “The paparazzi consistently go to increasingly dangerous lengths to stalk and harass the people they are photographing. Even after Princess Diana’s tragic death, the laws were never changed to protect targets from the lawless paparazzi. Many paparazzi have criminal pasts and will perform criminal acts to get their shot.”
“Yesterday, after leaving the Jimmy Kimmel Show, I was followed by 5 cars full of men with blacked out windows who were running red lights and putting other drivers and pedestrians at risk so they could follow me to find out where I was staying and subsequently stalk me and my young daughter for the duration of my stay,” the actress revealed of the scary situation.
“The paparazzi put people’s lives at risk, so they can wait for days in quiet neighborhoods in blacked out cars, and try to follow me to the playground and photograph my child and other people’s children in a safe place that should be off limits, but isn’t. All of this is perfectly legal. After yesterday’s incident, I felt it was my duty as a concerned citizen who was being pursued dangerously and stalked to go to the local precinct and seek guidance there. I would encourage others in a similar situation to go to the police.”
“Women across the US are stalked, harassed and frightened and a universal law to address stalking must be at the forefront of law enforcement conversations. Until paparazzi are considered by the law for the criminal stalkers they are, it’s just a waiting game before another person gets seriously injured or killed, like Princess Diana,” Johansson concluded, referring to the the tragic accident that took the life of Princess Diana back in 1997 after the car she was riding in crashed while being pursued by paparazzi.